00:00The question is clear.
00:02Do we remain a place where the world comes to manufacture medical devices?
00:08Or do we take the next leap and become a country that creates medical technology for the world?
00:16If you ask me, we must do both.
00:21We must remain a trusted global manufacturing base
00:25while building our own companies, technologies and talent to compete globally.
00:33We are not starting from zero.
00:36As mentioned by the Minister in 2025 alone,
00:41Malaysia exported about 34.5 billion ringgit worth of medical devices.
00:49It is an achievement to our country.
00:55In the same year, about 4 billion ringgit in new medical device investment
01:01were approved across 46 projects, creating close to about 3,400 employment opportunities.
01:11The global medical device industry was valued at more than 572 billion US dollars.
01:20It was last year, in 2025.
01:24And it is projected to exceed about 1 trillion US dollars by 2034.
01:32So, the question is not whether this industry will grow.
01:37It will definitely will.
01:39The more important question is how much of that growth Malaysia will capture.
01:46And how much of that value will truly belong to Malaysia.
01:52We should not measure progress only by factories opened or investment approved.
01:59We must also ask how much technology and intellectual property are created here,
02:06how many Malaysian companies become global players,
02:10and how many Malaysians occupy the highest-skilled job.
02:16Capital may enter Malaysia.
02:19I would like to repeat, capital may enter Malaysia,
02:23but captability must remain in Malaysia.
02:31We cannot wait for investment to arrive before asking where the talent will come from.
02:38The talent must be ready before the investment arrives.
02:41That is why the MedTech industry must work much closer with our universities and TVED institutions.
02:49Do not come to us only when unique workers, especially I am also the Chairman of Cabinet Equity on Foreign
02:59Workers.
03:00We must give priority to local workers, local managers, local supervisors.
03:08Come earlier.
03:11Help shape programs.
03:13Identify future skills.
03:15Provide industrial exposure.
03:18And open more apparatus-shaped pathway.
